William Atkins
Saturday, 15 August 2009 20:06
Science -
Space
Page 2 of 3
The committee has not yet made any recommendations on what are possible scenarios for future NASA manned programs. However, they have announced what isn't going to work.
Here are three more problems with the current plans for the U.S. space agency.
3. Under the current NASA budget, the continuing support of the International Space Station (ISS) is the only human-based space program that is possible. There is not enough money in the current budget to support the ISS and to conduct further human exploration of the Moon and Mars.
4. Developing new spacecraft to replace the retiring space shuttles within the Space Transportation System (STS) will require about $3 billion more per year than currently allotted to NASA.
5. Going to the Moon may not be the best option as the next step for human exploration for NASA. The committee suggests that flights to asteroids or other destinations may be better.
Specifically, the program Constellation (which replaces the space shuttle fleet) that aims to land astronauts on the Moon by 2020 will not succeed, according to the committee, because its ten-year, $108 billion budget is about $30 billion ($3 billion per year for 10 years) less than what is needed to make the program successful.
Former astronaut Sally Ride, one of the members of the committee, stated,
"We can't do this program in this budget. This budget is simply not friendly to exploration." [Reuters (8/14/09): “
Space review panel says moon, Mars out of reach”]
Page three concludes with an additional comment from Ms. Ride and a concluding comment from Mr. Augustine.
